What is it about a place that seduces one into living there for most of their lives? How do you describe those elements of comfort or fascination that have a life-defining impact?Tom and I have lived in the same community and in the same house for 30+ years now. The “30” is a kind of landmark that intrigues and compels us to look for answers to those questions.

Dear Kootenays: is an exploration of our tie to this place. Through these images we have found insights into what makes the Kootenays home for us and what is important about how we experience life here. The images speak of contrasts and so we chose two presentation styles to represent those contrasts — Metallic and Canvas. Metallic with its edgy glow, and canvas textured and soft.

For us it is essential that we have complete artistic control over the end product. That means we do it all — from image capture and development to printing and presentation. The metallic prints are mounted on aluminum composite panels resulting in a sleek contemporary look. We use museum quality canvas for the canvas prints, which are stretched over our own Kootenay White Pine frames.

Dear Kootenays: runs from August 22nd to September 30th at Selkirk Eyecare, 543 Baker Street, Nelson.

Otter Books of Nelson produces this calendar each year. Photographers submit entries through a competition process for inclusion in the calendar.

Tom and I each have an image included in this calendar. September (me) and November (Tom). My image tied for Second Place in the competition. And are we thrilled or what!

The quality of the reproduction is very, very good we think and all of the photos are quite lovely.

These calendars are on sale at various stores throughout the Kootenays, including Otter Books in Nelson, Crockett Books in Trail, Cafe Books in Rossland, Nakusp Hotsprings, Nakusp Valhalla Pure, Meritxell in New Denver, Figments in Kaslo and Blackbear books in Creston. The Winlaw Mini-Mart also has a few. And there are probably more places to get them.

Spring! What a HECTIC time of year. Although in a Good Way. Gardening and More Gardening. I love being in the Garden, it’s so good for my soul. It’s one of those places where I feel Pure Joy! Sweet. Oh, and there’s watching the River Flow (we’ve a heavy rainfall warning in effect right now so we’re keeping an eye on the water levels).

DS and I (DS=Darling Spouse) entered a few images in the West Kootenay Camera Club’s Annual Photo Show Competition. For those of You who have an interest, the Photos entered will be Exhibited twice in June. At the Kootenay Gallery in Castlegar June 3, 4 and 5th. And then again at the VISAC Gallery in Trail from June 24 to 29. There are a lot of talented photographers who enter this Competition — and you can go view the entries if you like. I think you will enjoy it! REALLY.

As I promised in the last post, here are some Easy Steps to take to help you create Your Story Prints that You will want to talk about and point to. Just so you Know.…All printing I refer to is INKJET. OK?

Beloved TIFF (or tif)

The TIFF file is used universally as a preferred image format. JPEGs are great but TIFFs are Better. TIFFs are also Bigger — take up more space on your hard drive than JPEGs. That is because JPEGs are LOSSY compressed so that they are smaller files and also lose data in the process. TIFFs can be saved without compression or with LOSSLESS compression — meaning bigger files and no data loss. When a JPEG is edited and saved the compression function throws out some of the data in the file. Do that enough times and your Memories (read > photos) turn to Mush. Nobody wants Mushy Memories. Here is what you do.

BTW — these are Screen Shots from Adobe Photoshop CS5. If you are using a Different Software, there should be similar choices you can make. Except Picasa — it won’t let you save a file as a TIFF.

File>Save as>Choose TIFF from the FORMAT drop down menu

You will then be given some TIFF Options like so:

These are the options I use. Compression>LZW is slight lossless compression which makes for somewhat smaller file sizes than None.

Click OK [but You knew that already didn’t You?].

Rename

This is a Good Time to Rename your file. I learned about this Naming Convention from Matthew Campagna of The Turning Gate.

The image of the Rose was captured by my spouse — Tom Bradley, June of 2003 in our garden. The file name the Camera gave it was 0046. Here is the lovely Rose’s name by another name (it will still be a Rose btw):

tb_20030614_British_Columbia_Home_Garden_Eglantine_Rose_0046.tif.

“tb” = photographer’s initials.

“20030614” = year/month/day.

“British_Columbia_Home_Garden_Eglantine_Rose”= description from broad to specific.

“0046”= file number assigned by Camera.

This type of file name is IMMENSELY searchable. Search by Photographer. Search by Date. Search by Place. Search by Subject. Search by File Number. There. Told YA.

Resolution

Let’s monkey with the resolution now. Don’t know about yours, but my Camera gives me JPEGs at a resolution of 72 ppi (that would be pixels per inch). I accidentally tried to print an image once at 72 ppi. It was a DISASTER. Not Recommended. Here is what you do:

Open the image then Image>Image Size

There. You See. What did I tell You. In the “Document Size” section Resolution = 72 pixels/inch. We should like to change that. For my printers [HP] I need 300 pixels/inch. Some other printers [Epson] want 360 ppi. Canon printers also want 300 ppi. The Resolution Info is from Fine Art Printing for Photographers by Uwe Steinmueller and Juergen Gulbins, 2nd edition. Good Book, I recommend it.

[Do the Math. In the above example Pixel Dimensions are Width: 3872 pixels, Height: 2592 pixels. If you divide the Width/Height in pixels by the Resolution of 72 pixels per inch — you arrive at the Document Size in inches. Go ahead. In the example below, Same Drill.]

Here’s how you make the change:

Make Sure the “Resample Image” box is UNchecked!

Then just enter the resolution your Printer wants into the —wait for it—Resolution box. Click OK. Done.

The last few steps Might Be: Crop, Saturation boost (keep it small), Contrast boost (keep it small). You might decide none of those are needed. Great.

Print YOUR Image. Put it up on the WALL or Magnet it to the FRIDGE. TELLYOURSTORY. REMEMBER.

Hardcopy your Experiences: Print Your Photos

I’m pretty sure I was making some kind of statement worth documenting…erm…

The Deep

Photos document social history (read: humans interacting with their world). Your social history that deserves to be displayed. To be touched. To be handed to your kids, parents, friends. To be put up on the Wall. To be Talked about. To Be Remembered.

The Real — How to Get to the Deep

Every time you take some photos Print The Best One. The Best One = the One you Like the Most. The One that tells Your Story. Frame it and put it up on the Wall. Or Magnet it to the Fridge.

The How to — Be Real

Carry your Camera around with you. You never know when Social History events will rise up and beg to be remembered.

If you are Just Starting Out — set everything to Auto. Some Cameras Love Their Auto. If your Camera will let you — set the colour space to Adobe RGB (1998). It has more colours in it than sRGB and will make a better photo.

Open The Best One (One = JPEG). [Unless you are shooting RAW — in which case you likely already know this stuff]. Save as a TIFF file. Because the data in the JPEG degrades every time it is Saved. The JPEG should be archived as your Master only — Never Make Changes To The Original. (You can’t convert your JPEG to TIFF in Picasa or Windows Photo Gallery). Use Corel, Paint Shop, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop — like that.

While you’re at it — Check the Resolution — some Cameras give you your photo at 72 ppi (pixels per inch). Good for Web and Email not for Printing. Find out what Resolution your Printer likes best and Change the image Resolution to that. If you need to, Tweak the TIFF to get the colours just right. Make it BIG if you want to.

Find a quality printer and use quality paper. Print.

The Loop — Back to The Deep

Frame it and put it up on the Wall. Or Magnet it to the Fridge.

Touch, Talk, Remember.

Are you convinced enough to At Least Think About IT?

No good those photos sitting on your harddrive. That’s Dumb.

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More detailed tips on getting your photos ready to make Prints You’ll Love